An amusing excerpt from my mother's e-mail

"On the way home we stopped at an Italian specialty shop, where Dad bought some hideously stinky cheese which he unaccountably likes. It's now in a zip-lock plastic bag, in an effort to keep it from smelling up the place. That must be a leftover from his student days in Italy."

Welcome, Freecyclers!

If you're here to see the lamp I posted on Freecycle, here it is:

It's not going to win any beauty contests, but it works, and it provides quite a pleasant, soft light. I've had it for years and my mother had it before me. It's just that I have too many old lamps right now... and something's gotta give!

What I did for Tringo

I play an addictive little game called Tringo, one of the few actually interesting things I discovered during my short foray into Second Life last year. Recently, the only site that offers the game suddenly requires you to create a silly little avatar if you want to play it.

I put it off for a few weeks, but I just missed playing the game too much. So I went ahead and created my "Meez" this evening, as you see to the right there: it's another virtual me, like the one from Second Life back in the day.

The only difference is that this one doesn't look remotely like me... but now that I've gone to the bother of building her, I might as well let her hang out on my blog for a while.

Besides, there was a Thanksgiving hat I could stick on her head, so that seemed kind of cute.

Now... back to playing Tringo!

I love a parade

Y' know what? I love the Detroit Thanksgiving Day parade.

I love watching it every year on TV, in my PJs, while Scott brings me coffee refills.

I love the old-fashioned computer graphics, and I hope they never change them.

I love the fact that the floats and balloons embody such entities as Mother Goose, penguins, bookworms, and smiley stars instead of glitzy Disney characters.

I love giggling whenever Carmen Harlan urges rapturously, "Let's take a listen!" and the marching band immediately finishes its song and starts marching silently in place.

I love seeing Woodward Avenue awash in color and laughter.

I love the fact that Santa entreated the children of Detroit to stay positive during this troubled time for the city "because your parents need your help right now."

It's hokey, I guess. I know it's hokey! But I love it.

Test your vocabulary...

... and feed your fellow man while you're at it!

Thanks, Penny... you're right, it is addictive. "Just ten more grains while I'm on a roll..."

"Balt! ... Balthazar!"

Today I was reminded of a cartoon I loved as a child.

The one or two people who actually read this blog will be rubbing their eyes and saying, "What? A cartoon she loved? But she hates cartoons!"

Very true. But this one was different.

This was a Yugoslavian cartoon series from the late 60s and early 70s called "Professor Balthazar," about a little old inventor who goes around having adventures. Every so often, he would save the day by inventing a fantastical machine.

I've learned that they're digitally restoring it, too, and putting it on DVD. Whoo hoo!

Anagram mania

Through the use of this site, I have found what is now my favorite anagram for my name:

Allusive maven

And here's another really fun one:

Evil naval muse

But I also found an unfortunate one:

Male univalves

As well as a very unfortunate one:

Seminal vulvae

There were a slew of others, of course. "Alien valve sum" sounds like a pretty cool album title. "Vale mauls Vine" sounds like a sports headline. "Mauve LaSnivel" can be the name I use for posting anonymous complaints online. "Suave villa men" sounds like guys you might meet on vacation in Italy. And "vain slave mule" sounds downright kinky.

Changes now!

Hey, look! The little fish I work for has been devoured by a big fish!

It's a big fish that offers great benefits, though, and it seems pretty excited about us. Besides, change is good.

Swim on!

Quillory remembered

I was looking through my pictures folder and found a screen shot from last winter, when I briefly explored the virtual online universe called Second Life.

I tried to get my avatar, Quillory, to look kinda like me. And I dressed her like me, too - or least tried to get the free clothes you can download from the virtual thrift stores to look kinda like my clothes. (I couldn't customize the jeans not to expose her abdomen, but hey, that's what you get when you shop in virtual thrift stores...)


The reason she's wearing a hat and scarf here is that she was hanging out near Times Square right after they lit the huge Christmas tree there, and they were handing out free winter wear.

Those were the halcyon days of fresh discovery. Alas, it didn't take long before I got bored just watching Quillory wandering about randomly in the streets and fields of Second Life, no matter how realistic they were... and canceled my account.

Still, I'm glad I had the presence of mind to save a picture of Quillory before her virtual demise.